Miss these Three C’s in Your Marketing and It Will COST You BIG TIME

Recently, I listened to a podcast about my one of favorite topics – “How do I create a great marketing message?” It prompted me to put together a blog post on the three C’s in creating a solid marketing message that won’t waste your money. Why do so many marketing messages fail or not do as well as you had hoped while you put them together? It’s because they missed some important concepts. In marketing, if you miss something that changes the way your client’s “brain” sees the message, it means money has been wasted. It also cost you time, and most people don’t even notice that it’s happening, they only think their marketing doesn’t work well. Know what they missed? They missed the 3C’s. Yes, Consistency, Congruency, and Communication/Copy. These three C’s can change everything as they are neglected.

Consistency

Consistency is the ability to maintain a task or standard repeatedly. Okay, so that sounds like a lot repetition, but it’s worth it. Here are things to keep in mind: Decide what kind impression you want to give your audience and deliver that feeling throughout all of your marketing channels and all of your communication. It could be Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, your blog, your printed ads, and etcetera. Keeping you branding makes people say, “Oh it’s her! The one I love from Pinterest. So she’s offering a free webinar now. I’d love a reserve a slot.” Just by looking at your branding, they’d recognized who you are. Give them the feeling of consistency in all that you do. Give them something to follow and notice. More than just what is seen in the eyes, branding is your voice. The common mistake everyone makes is limiting themselves to the idea that branding is your logo, your colors, and your font. They talk about the look. Branding is much more than that; it is the “feeling,” the voice, and what you bring to your clients in value beyond what you provide as a service. Branding is your voice, your message, the feeling you want people to have because of your business, and it also “happens” to be your font, colors, and logo.

Congruency

Congruency is the state being in agreement or harmony. Why is this important in your business? Imagine this.A friend tells you that she bought her clothes online. They look amazing, so you want to give it a try. You find a website, and even though you are apprehensive about buying clothes on the internet you decide that the site looks amazing, the pictures seem so cute, and you’re willing to give it a try.You’ve been waiting for that doorbell for two days now, alas! It’s delivered your doorstep. You tear open the packaging with a smile on your face and BANG! It looks like it came from another company. It looks terrible and yet their website created so much trust. Your smile turns to disappointment; not only does what they sent look like it came from a different place, the quality and materials are different from what their website stated…there is nothing left to do but to return it. You won’t ever make that mistake again; you even leave negative feedback in several places online, so no one else goes through that disappointment.

Unlike the example above, your marketing message should be in harmony from top to bottom and start to finish. The brain seeks continuity in the message by nature. This happens instantaneously and in the blink of an eye. In the brains world “the subconscious” acts as our safety mechanism. It scans for patterns which give us a feeling of well being and more importantly trustable. Congruency creates harmony for the brain and anything that takes that away, takes away from the trust factor at a subconscious level. It then downgrades your message and the trustworthiness at your client’s subconscious level, even if they don’t understand why; to them, they just aren’t “interested” in what you have to offer. The remedy is to have the same voice, the same verbiage and same look from start to finish.

Communication/Copy

It’s not what you say, but how you say it. You may hear the same things from several different sources, but only one of them hits home; it captivates your soul, and you are now invested. Find your voice and stick with it. Though many of us found it quite challenging, Brian Tracy believes the opposite. “Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.” I found the following helpful. You might want to try it too. Talk to a single person (not a group). Your Ideal Client Avatar (ICA). Never cross communicate. Keep it to one ICA, one topic per ad, one topic, and ICA per landing/lead page. Create more ads and landing pages for different ICAs

In the end, creating a great marketing message does not just involve your visual branding, it is a consistent message and tone, and it keeps your prospects feeling safe from start to finish. Find the right voice for you and your ideal client, keep it branded, not only in the way it looks but also how it should feel. Remember the 3 C’s- consistency, congruency, and communication.

About Karrie Christen

Karrie has been a marketing consultant, coach, and director for over 21 years. She is the owner of The Client Attraction Formula, The Client Attraction Formula Academy, and HeyKarrieAnn. Karrie is passionate about helping people grow their businesses and enjoy life at the same time.